The present invention relates to animal restraints, and more particularly, to animal restraint systems for vehicles.
Animals (particularly pets) are often transported in the passenger compartment of vehicles. If the animal is unrestrained, this presents a danger to both the animal and the human occupants of the vehicle. An unrestrained animal can interfere with the driver of the vehicle, such as by jumping on the driver""s lap. Also, in the event that vehicle brakes suddenly, makes a sudden maneuver, or comes to a sudden stop such as in the case of an accident, the unrestrained animal may be thrown about the passenger compartment of the vehicle. This can injure the animal. It can also injure a human occupant if the animal is thrown into this occupant with enough force. It can also cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle if the animal is thrown into the driver when the driver is attempting to bring the vehicle to a stop or maneuvering the vehicle.
It is an object of this invention to provide an animal restraint system for a vehicle that restrains the animal from moving about the passenger compartment of the vehicle and also restrains the animal from being thrown about the passenger compartment of the vehicle if the vehicle suddenly brakes, maneuvers or stops.
An animal restraint system for a vehicle has a vest having leg holes for front legs of an animal. A top strap extends across the top of an animal wearing the vest and is looped through a buckle tongue and a webbing adjuster defining top and bottom portions of the top strap. The vest is secured to a seat belt of a vehicle by passing the seat belt between the top and bottom portions of the top strap. The top portion of the top strap can be pulled through the webbing adjuster to shorten the bottom portion to adjust the top strap. In an embodiment, the top strap is rotatably coupled to the vest.
In an aspect of the invention, a buckle attachment clip is secured to a buckle that mates with the buckle tongue and looped through a ring secured to one side of the vest and a webbing adjuster attachment clip is secured to the webbing adjuster and looped through a ring secured to the other side of the vest. This rotatably couples the top strap to the vest.
In another aspect of the invention, a buckle attachment strap is secured to a buckle that mates with the buckle tongue and looped around an attachment strap that is roped and secured to one side of the vest jacket. A webbing adjuster attachment strap is secured to the webbing adjuster and looped around a second attachment strap secured to the other side of the vest. This rotatably couples the top strap to the vest.
In an aspect of the invention, the animal restraint system has two top straps. The top straps are coupled to a first side of the vest jacket above one of the leg holes by individual buckles and to a second side of the vest jacket above the other leg hole by individual webbing adjusters.
In an aspect of the invention, the top and bottom portions of the top strap are secured together adjacent the buckle tongue to have a predetermined breakaway force.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.